Previous button

Can you post your Storyline file? I don't mind taking a look at it over lunch.

I think most users would expect previous to go to the last slide they were on, very similar to a back button on a web browser.  

Oh Mike, that's really kind of you! But I can't - its confidential stuff.

But here's the thing I suspect is causing the problem and I don't know how to describe it; basically the slide that is causing me problems (4.3) has an off-centre arrow!

Could that be it?! What would be making that problem? The rest of the arrows on the other slide line up in the middle when they are selected!

It might not be this....(it probably isn't!)

For what it's worth, as a user (student/learner) of a Storyline lesson, I expect a "Previous" button to return me to the last slide I viewed.  If I clicked on a "Previous" button and it took me anywhere other than the last page/slide I had viewed I would report a problem.  It's different for a "Next" button because I don't know what should come next.  Therefore it can be programmed to take me to any slide (branch based on my answer to a question, etc.) and I'll be none the wiser.  But I know what I saw previously and when I click on a "Previous" button I expect to go back there.  I have no idea, as a learner, what the previous slide is numerically.  I just know the last one I looked at.

I agree Steve, the problem is the previous trigger is not consistant in how it works, that's a big no-no in good software design. 

If you remain in the same scene you'll go back numerically not to the literally previous one. However if you jump scenes then "previous" goes to the literal previous.

So sometimes it does go back numerically but sometimes it doesn't and you can't test for it. Bad design.

To see what I mean take a look at this Storyline:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/33392673/BadDesign/story.html

You can go forward and it works fine, and if you stay in the S1 (don't go to S2 L1) then you're fine. But the second you jump that scene boundary all heck breaks loose. If you go to the end using next and then try to go back using previous you'll ping-pong between S1 L3 and S2 L1 because of the inconsistant design.

(Storyline is attached)

You can hover your mouse over that arrow and it will tell you what the trigger is.

P.S. I think the right arrows denote an automatic trigger (e.g. it goes to next on end of timeline) but I have had it show a right trigger arrow even after I've deleted the auto-trigger.

Sorry, I was only half remembering the problem so only half explained; the problem is inconstancy. (see my above post)

Mike,

I was able to open the Dropbox file and it worked pretty much as I expected with the Previous button returning me to the slide I had viewed before the one I was on.  When I clicked the Previous button again it took me to the slide I had viewed before that (as it should).  I unzipped the file you included to hopefully see the .story file but I didn't see that file, just a bunch of .html, .js and .swf files.  I then created my own test file, similar to yours.  I included a button that jumps to a slide not in the correct numerical order (slide 3.2) and then previewed it.  It works exactly the way I expected it to.  I wrote down the slides in the order I viewed them and then used the Previous button.  Each click of the Previous button took me backward through the order in which I had viewed the slides.

I'm not saying there's not a problem, just that I haven't been able to duplicate it. 

Weird, I just learned that while you do have to have the "next" trigger for the next button the "previous" trigger magically does not have to be there. This is another design inconsistency.

Sorry, I should have been more specific on how to replicate the error:

Go to https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33392673/BadDesign/story.html

Press "Next" twice, you will be on S1 L3 (Scene 1 sLide 3).

Press "Previous" once, you will be on S1 L2.

Press "Previous" again, you will be on S1 L1.

(This is all expected behavior)

Press the "Next" button three times, you will be on S2 L1 (Scene 2 sLide 1 - a new scene).

Press "Previous" once, you will be on S1 L3. (expected)

Press "Previous" again, you should be on S1 L2 but are in fact on S2 L1 (unexpected).

Here's the storyline file:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/33392673/PreviousButtonBadDesign.story

--- mega edit conclusion ---

OK, part of it was me putting in triggers that I don't need but it still doesn't address my issue where I have my own navigation buttons. If you use the built in next/previous buttons and don't add a trigger to the previous button they will work correctly.

However, if you have your own menu system and you try to replicate the Next/Previous button functionality using the next/previous triggers it will not work consistently.

I'm lost.

There was no trigger for previous assigned - it doesn't work (even if you have quibbles with it going back to the last page you've seen, it doesn't do this.

Then, I assign a trigger for the previous and assign it a jump to slide - it still doesn't work...

Has anyone got any suggestions? I might just use the Storyline support if not!